Car crashes into restaurant

SMITH COUNTY, TX (KLTV) - She was going to the drive through, but instead, she drove through.

A Smith County restaurant is left with a hole in the front after a car plowed through Pop's Honey Fried Chicken on Highway 155 between Noonday and Coffee City.

Yuvette Erwin, who has been with the company since 1980, says the woman was going through the "drive-thru" but then decided to come inside. Erwin says when the customer began to park, her foot slipped off the break.

Erwin was working the cash register when the woman drove through the restaurant, completely destroying the entrance.

"I was in the kitchen cooking when I heard a loud noise; it was scary! I didn't have any idea of what happened. I just saw a jeep in the building, in the dining room," says Baldazar Rodriguez, the restaurant's owner.

The woman was not hurt, but Rodriguez says a lot of damage has been done and not just to the wall. He had to throw away all of the food for health precautions.

Still, while the cleanup continues from the crash, the crew is taking everything with some unexpected good humor.

"They (customers) still want to get burgers! Would you like a brick sandwich?" Erwin says before bursting into laughter.

Employees say after shaking off the wreck, the driver even had a request for them.

"That's what she ate, gizzards. After she had the accident she wanted gizzards. She said it would be her last meal because her husband was going to kill her," Erwin says as a smile emerges on her face.

Erwin says they did not even charge her for her gizzards or her drink, but they are going to ask for some money when it comes to cleaning this mess up.

"We've got to charge her for this because I've got to get paid," Erwin says.

"I hope today we can clean it up and build up a temporary wall and then I hope in the next two days we can open," Rodriguez says.

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